Tom Heywood Elected Managing Partner at Bowles Rice

By: Charleston, WV

January 7, 2008

The law firm of Bowles Rice McDavid Graff & Love LLP has elected Thomas A. Heywood as its new Managing Partner, effective January 1, 2008. Heywood replaces F. Thomas Graff, who held the position since 1986. Graff will continue to practice law with the firm.

Heywood was unanimously elected to his new position by Bowles Rice partners in December. Tom Graff said of Heywood, "We are excited about the future of Bowles Rice under Tom Heywood's stewardship. Tom is a talented and experienced attorney and a natural leader. He also understands the importance of our firm's continued involvement in community and economic development across the region."

Heywood has served as Assistant Managing Partner at Bowles Rice since 2005. He holds the distinguished AV Peer Review Rating from Martindale-Hubbell and is consistently named one of America's Best Lawyers by Woodward & White. Chambers and Partners 2007 praises him as "the premier corporate practitioner in the region."

Heywood joined Bowles Rice in 1983, and left to serve as the Chief of Staff and Counsel to West Virginia Governor Gaston Caperton from 1989 to 1993. Since returning to Bowles Rice, his practice has included corporate/commercial services, government relations and health care.

He received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1982, where he was the Editor of the Harvard International Law Journal and the Harvard Law Record.

He is actively involved in many business, professional, civic and charitable organizations and activities. He recently returned from China, as a member of Governor Joe Manchin's delegation that pursued business development opportunities for the State of West Virginia.

Bowles Rice is a regional law firm with 125 attorneys located in six offices in Charleston, Martinsburg, Morgantown and Parkersburg, West Virginia; Lexington, Kentucky; and Winchester, Virginia.